Transmigration & Reverse Transmigration Chapter 1
Ruyi: Hey guys, miss you lots! I'm still wrapped up in work, so I figured I'd help you all pa.s.s the time by posting one of my old test translation splurges. One of the ways I “tested” out potential translation projects in the past was to experiment with translating a section of its chapters.
is a comedy that tells the misadventures of a girl who studies the cla.s.sics and everything else to prepare herself to transmigrate, only to regret it after she makes it back. The main plot of the book deals with her figuring out how to reverse the process while dealing with a bunch of p.r.i.c.kly obstacles (and obsessive male leads)! Although it was a funny story, the plot does get heavy-handed near the middle of the book, losing much of its cheerful flippancy. The author was also a bit disorganized, switching between 3rd and 1st person POVs, so eventually it became a ch.o.r.e to keep going.
I've now provided the first 12.5 chapters I translated here for your reading enjoyment. As always, if you want to pick up this project for yourself, message me so I can link readers to your translation after the teaser's end. And now, enjoy.
No 1: The person called Zhao Minmin
Late at night, all was still. There was no sound of her dad and mom calling her, only the click-clacks of mouse and keyboard. On the computer screen were words written by authors Jinzi and Grape, shimmering beautifully. Before the computer was a certain someone holding onto a paper towel, crying and laughing as she was reduced to a shaking mess…
Without any warning, this person suddenly shut all the windows, her dull eyes finally gazing fixedly on the tabletop for a long time…as if time itself had stopped…
Suddenly, there was a crack in the air as something moved! Yes, this person had moved! The same figure placed her shaking hands on the computer desk before propping up her stiff body and straightening her bent back. Her movement spread to her waist before she suddenly rose sharply! Everything finished in an instant! This person looked towards the skies and shouted:
"I–Want–To–Trans–Migrate!!!!! AhhHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhHHH!!!!!"
Bang! (The sound of someone's forehead connecting with the table)
"What time is it already? Your racket woke up your father and mother!" (An angry woman roared from above.)
"…." (A certain person played dead and pretended to sleep…)
—
This person was someone ordinary. Even her surname was Zhao; to put it nicely, it was one of the first names in the Book of Family Names1. Bluntly speaking, it was an overwhelmingly common surname.
Given names were easier to deal with–if you only had one, you could get one with the qualities of an ancient female from one of Jin Yong's2 novels. For this reason, this person couldn't help but beat her chest and stamp her feet in anger that she didn't have the merit to cultivate well in her past life3.
That's right, this person's name was Zhao Minmin4.
When she was learning to write in elementary school, the teacher said, "A character description starts from the external appearance to someone's personality. Adding in hobbies and achievements can make a more lovable impression." So first off, let's take a look at Minmin's external appearance.
People say that a woman's beauty comes from three parts surface appearance, three parts disposition, three parts character and one part dress up. As for Minmin–
Her facial features were average, so that was 10 points off external appearances.
Her academic record was average and so was her family's social standing. She had no outstanding merits, so that was 20 points off her disposition.
As for her personality……(these ellipses hold a lot of meaning)…..she was close to her group members, so we'll just take 5 points off for character.
In terms of dressing up, it varied. To put it bluntly, between being spending generously or being tight-fisted, she still needed to rely on money to make things work.
In summary, Minmin's total rating hovered around 65 points. Colloquially speaking, her current situation was bleak…
—
Next, let's talk about Minmin's hobbies.
Minmin's sole hobby was to read webnovels on Jinjiang5 every night. Currently, she was addicted to transmigration stories. She'd read at least 20 of them back to back before she suddenly reached an understanding:
Transmigration was great!
Transmigration was good, you could pick up girls and admire handsome men while grabbing for riches.
Transmigration was good, you could leave an immortal's mountain to enter a dragon's lake, learning a whole body's worth of supreme martial arts skills.
Transmigration was good, you could wander the jianghu or the imperial harem and speak of history as you please.
Transmigration was good, a main character had a good life. You could be Wei Xiaobao without having any skills to your name.
Transmigration was good, your supporting cast was attractive and proficient in 18 kinds of weapons, but was still blind enough to get intimate with the main character.
As a result, the extraordinarily ordinary Zhao Minmin steeled her heart to walk upon the path to transmigration!
Book of Family Names (百家姓) – bai jia xing, anonymous Song dynasty reading primer listing 438 Chinese surnames.Jin Yong (金庸) – also known as Louis Cha (1924-), famous wuxia writer and author of the Condor Hero trilogy.cultivate well in her past life – belief in reincarnation stemmed that cultivating well in a previous life would lead to fortune and merit in the next (a.s.suming the cultivator didn't reach enlightenment).Zhao Minmin (赵敏敏) – Zhao is a surname, Min means "quick, nimble, agile."Jinjiang (晋江) – source of the novel raws, or .